28 



THE BOOK OF CHOICE FERNS. 



require to be sown early in the spring, in some very moist loam, where they 

 will germinate and grow freely. When sufficiently strong, the seedHngs 

 should be plunged into the water so that the little crowns are quite covered. 

 The plant may also be increased by pegging on to the surface of moist soil 

 the numerous bulbils with which its barren fronds are quite covered, and which 

 soon produce a crop of young plants of rapid growth. It succeeds best 

 when the pot containing it is plunged to the rim in water of a uniform 

 temperature of from 60deg. to 65deg. 



C. thalictroides — thal-ic-tr6-i'-des (Thalictrum-like), Brongnlart. 



This most interesting Fern, which, according to Eaton, is found floating 

 on the waters of Prairie Creek and on the head-Avaters of the St. John's 

 River, in Florida, is also a native of the slowly-moving and quiet waters of 

 the Tropics, from Mexico and the West Indies southward to Brazil ; also 

 from the Punjaub to Tropical Australia, Madagascar, Angola, and Western 

 Trojjical Africa. Eaton, in the history of this extraordinary Fern, says that 

 Curtis records having found it " somewhere in the vast inundated prairie 

 regions north of the Everglades, floating free in water lOft. deep, exactly like 

 a Psitia and AzoUa." Its fronds, of a succulent or fleshy texture, are arranged 

 in rosettes, each having roots of its own ; they are borne on thick, inflated 

 stalks filled with large air-cells, and are of two totally distinct characters : 

 the barren ones floating, simple or slightly divided when young, twice or 

 three times divided into narrow segments when mature, of a cheerful 

 light green colour, and highly prohferous ; the fertile ones, bi- or tripinnate 

 (twice or three times divided to the midrib), are of upright habit and 

 frequently attain IJft. in height. Both kinds of fronds are produced from 

 a thick, fleshy crown, which should always be kept in water. — Hooher., Species 

 Filicum, ii, p. 236. Nicholson.^ Dictionary of Gardening.^ i., p. 297. Eaton, 

 Ferns of North Am.erica, t. 80. Beddome, Ferns of Southern India, t. 75. 



w,i=^^=^>^ 



CEROPTERIS — Ce-rop-ter -is. See Gymnogramme. 



CETERACH — Ce'-ter-ach. See Asplenium. C. offi,cinarum is a synonym 

 of Asplenium Ceterach. 



